Epilogue: Walker

The forest was quiet, only the sound of some birds chirping happily at the warmth that came out suddenly. The clouds parted, the sun's rays able to reach down at the chaotic world below. The snow from the day before slowly melted, the puddles covering the brown earth in patches.
A boot broke a puddle, the droplets splashing around the ground and breaking the silence, even if it was for a moment.
The quiet had always annoyed him.

He walked alone, his steps confident strides as he made his way along the clear part of the forest. The trees towered over him, shading him from the sun now and he grumbled as he knelt down to inspect a track. With the snow melting and this breeze making the dead leaves fall, it was going to be impossible to find anything to hunt. A bird hoped in front of him, brown feathers ruffling and he paused, watching as the little creature scurried along the ground, hopping from place to place before scratching at a pile of dirt, digging in his beak and pulling free a worm. Triumphant it took off in a flurry of wings, flying straight over the man and he watched it nestle down in a nearby nest, jealous. It would be easier if they could eat worms as well, but that wasn't the case and he stood back up, thinking of all the hungry mouths he had to feed.

His group was large, too big for his comfort but what could he do? Sure he was in charge, but to just turn people away, say no sorry we can't offer you anything? The more he took in, the less there would be out here to fight.
As he walked, his belt heavy with the weight of his gun, he spun his two weapons in his hands, eyes still looking for any walkers or anything useful he could rummage through. He glanced down at his two favourite weapons, the hook axe in one hand and the overly large hunting knife in the other. People had always asked why those two but he didn't have an explanation, maybe it was because he didn't want to waste bullets or maybe it was because no one had found him a bow he could use.
Which made him frown at his surroundings, where were all the walkers?

He had been out this way a little while ago and the place had been swarming with them and yet here he was now, able to kick puddles, even hum a tune and not a single biter had cross his path. It made him uneasy but he wasn't going to pass up this opportunity, who knew what he would find out here, maybe more people to take back to the group.
A sadness crept into his mind, thinking of all the people they had come across over the last couple of months, but none of them were anyone he knew. It made him smirk at his own optimism; there was no chance anyone he had known before was alive, he was lucky to be here.

Absently he reached up, his fingers touching the scar on his cheek.
As he did, he could remember his home but he couldn't think of the smell of the green grass or of the ocean, just the smoke and the fear, all he could hear was the screaming, the pleading, all he could see was her, so far from his reach…

Snapping his eyes open, he growled at himself for even bringing that thought back up and trudged on, his grip tighter now as he became angry. There had to be something out this way, he could feel it in his gut, whether it be a deer, a house un-ransacked, heck he would be happy with finding a boot. Right now he would even take a walker, this was starting to creep him out.

A twig snapped and he instantly crouched, ready to charge or flee. His eyes searched the area around him but there was nothing, not even another twig breaking and he tried to pin point where the noise had come from. Quietly he crept to the shelter of a thick tree, pressing against it as he waited, and it paid off. A walker slowly made its way from the trees, the corpse's long hair covering its face and he spun his hook axe around, ready for it. The walker groaned, stepping out in front of him and he was about to attack it when he hesitated; he had known someone who had hair like that.
His foot slipped on the bark and the walker heard, spinning around with a vicious snarl, arms stretching out to get him but he was already composed, slamming his axe into it head, the hook axe sinking deep and he strained his arm, bringing the walker in closer as he stabbed his hunting knife through the mess of hair and its skull. It stiffened, blood spilling down its pale face and he ripped his axe free, the walker dropping at his feet with a thud.

It was fresh, there was barely any rot on it, and as he looked at his knife, he saw that the blood was still a vibrant red, and steadily he bit his glove, freeing a hand and he touched the pad of his finger to the red liquid; it was even warm.
He looked down at the body in front of him, crouching down and turning the girl over. Brown hair shielded her face, a tangled mess but he couldn't bring himself to look at the face. Instead he busied himself with patting down the corpses body, feeling through the dress pocket, finding a small knife tucked in the boot and he took it, slipping it into his own pocket as he stared at the head. There was a bite on her arm, the thin arm shredded to the bone and he carefully lifted up some of the hair so that he could see her face. He didn't know why, curiosity killed the cat he thought and he sighed heavily as he dropped the hair back over the dead girls face.
It wasn't who he thought it was.

Something crunched behind him and he was up in an instant, slipping his glove back on as he leapt around the tree, stabbing at the walkers that were moving straight past him, their dead eyes focused on something else. With a grunt he ripped his knife free, turning around to finish off the last one but he hesitated to the point where he was frozen.
The last walker wasn't a walker at all, it was a man and he was about to demand who he was, the wings on the man's jacket not meaning that he was someone he could trust when the stranger turned around.
His shoulders dropped, his heart pounding so fast he thought it was going to explode. It pounded in his ears, drowning out the man that growled angrily at him.

"Keep back! Don't come closer," the stranger snapped, a crossbow over his shoulder and a jagged knife in his hands but that wasn't what made him stop.
Lowering his axe and knife, he moved closer, his eyes locked at what was draped in the man's arms. The girl was unconscious, blood seeping over the black coat and onto the ground and the stranger clutched her to him tighter as he stepped closer but he dropped his axe to the ground, the knife following soon after as he felt his mind go fuzzy, too confused and too full of hope to think of anything else; this had to be a dream, he was hallucinating right?
"Sierra?"

And that is the end of The Silent World…? Maybe not?
Originally this was not going to be the main story I worked on, but I came to really enjoy writing it and am sad that it finishes here, so I am thinking of not finishing it, let me know!

Thanks for the reviews and support along the way, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Silver Kirin
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